In the boat construction business it is normal to construct the hull of the boat upside down over a permanent type of mold or armature. Generally, in conventional boat construction a central vertically extending keel support member is supported by a series of frame support cross-members affixed to the keel support member so that the boat frames may be clamped to the mold during the hull construction phase. The frames are first bolted or clamped to the frame support cross-members followed by clamping the keel to the keel support member. The addition of the stem, knee bottom and sides over the permanent armature or mold subsequently follows. After the hull of a conventional boat is assembled over the foregoing mold assembly, all of the frames must then be unbolted or unclamped from the frame support cross-members as well as the portion of the hull which is connected or attached to the keel support member, thus taking considerable time and effort to free the basic hull from the mold assembly.
Additionally, the mold of the conventional construction technique must have the proper shape of the hull, thus the builder must do twice the work that is involved in the integral frame and support of the mold assembly method of the present invention.
The foregoing conventional hull construction method is only one of several other conventional boat building techniques.
This method of construction is disadvantaged in that it takes considerable time to affix and disengage each frame member to each frame support cross-member and the keel to the keel support of the permanent armature or mold assembly.
A patent issued to R. A. Surving, U.S. Pat. No. 3,793,768, discloses a model kit that utilizes a temporary armature for the construction of a hull assembly.
The armature or mold is comprised of a printed pattern on cardboard or the like. The pattern includes frame members and a keel. The frames and keel are interlocked with slots formed by the frames and keel. The interlocked frames and keel are mounted to a base portion and the armature is then used to fabricate a model boat hull. The armature is first taped with adhesive tape and subsequently covered with a mesh material. The mesh is then coated with a self-hardening modeling compound. After the compound hardens the hull is removed from the armature and the armature is discarded.
This invention is disadvantaged in that no part of the temporary armature is used as a structural part of the hull after the hull is finished as does the present invention.
Additionally the invention is further disadvantaged in that the armature is difficult to remove from the adhesive tape. In the instant invention, the hull frames and keel are simply cut from the armature or mold assembly.